Widespread acceptance has been gained in the recent years by such laparoscopic surgical procedures as cholecystomy, gastrostomy, sterilization, appendectomy.
Widely known in also application of surgical suturing instruments in cardiovascular and pulmonary surgery, as well as in operative interventions on the gastrointestinal tract, since such instruments are capable of providing a staunch suture and cutting down the operating time. However, none of the heretofore-known suturing instruments is suitable for endoscopic application.
Thus, one prior-art surgical suturing instrument for establishing lateral gastrointestinal anastomoses is known (SU, A, 125,867) to comprise hinge-joined a staple jaw provided with slots for staples and having a handle at one of its ends, and a supporting jaw provided with depressions for the staple legs to bend, a mechanism for staple ejection from the slots, and a mechanism for fixing the jaws in the drawn-together position. In said known instrument the hinge joint interconnecting the jaws is located at the end of the staple jaw handle. With the instrument in the drawn-apart position the jaws make up an angle with each other, whereby the surgical instrument in question is inapplicable for endoscopic manipulations.